Contrary to popular belief the most important statistic on a Facebook Page is not the amount of Likes, it’s not the “Talking About Us”, nor is it the engagement that occurs on Facebook. The Facebook “Like” button craze died off with the new changes that Facebook made by taking away the ability for brands to have landing pages. With the landing pages eliminated more brand pages seem to focus on engagement or better known as the “Talking About This Number.” As valuable as these numbers both are, they are not the most important number on Facebook. The most important number is actually the number of loyal fans which is a number not yet tracked by Facebook.

If your post contains a link and 200 people click that link your engagement number will stay the same even though the real proof of success for that post is really the amount of people that clicked it. Another problem is that we have all been brainwashed to focus on the number of fans but really the number of “fans reached” is more important because that lets you know if your message is effective.

The most important number is actually “Superfans” a term that is spreading among the social media sphere. Superfans are generally those who post frequently, share frequently, and answer questions on behalf of the brand. Superfans will become more and more vital to Facebook Pages due to the drop in engagement rates from changes in the EdgeRank Algorithm (which determines how many people see your post on their newsfeeds).

Every brand needs “Superfans” and unfortunately you cannot choose who is going to be a Superfan, it solely relies on the fans and their passion. The great thing is that you can start acknowledging and recognizing the efforts of those that make a home on your Facebook Page. Who knows maybe they will become Superfans? Also take the time to acknowledge any existing Superfans with prizes, gifts, or small tokens of your appreciation.